Public Health Law and Policy: Dual Tools for Public Health

Public health law and public health policy function as dual tools for public health, operating respectively and jointly to prevent disease and promote health. This paper considers definitions and theories of ‘public health law’ and ‘public health policy,’ highlights complexities of scope and application, and emphasizes the fundamental role public health law and policy play in impacting the social determinants of health. It examines and provides examples of how public health law and policy impact communicable and non-communicable diseases and injury; noting the limits of the law and contexts in which policy may operate more effectively to achieve certain aims. The importance of supranational and international public health law and policy are also considered, recognizing that public health issues often transcend borders, calling for global action to achieve public health goals. To this end, the paper also notes the important roles of inter-governmental organizations, business, and civil society, in impacting, influencing, and effecting, law and policy, and in turn, public health locally, nationally, and globally.